Last month we talked about the different types of nursing homes and long-term care facilities available in Hawaii. We covered ARCH, Adult Foster Homes, and Nursing Homes. There are also assisted-living facilities, which we did not discuss, but which are an important component of elderly care. Assisted-living facilities are especially helpful for those who don’t have family members who can help them to stay at home while they need some assistance, but before theyread more

https://okuralaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/logo-4001-blue-300x75.png00Ethan Okurahttps://okuralaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/logo-4001-blue-300x75.pngEthan Okura2017-05-08 13:01:232017-07-14 08:22:23THE BEST NURSING HOME IN HAWAII

We have had hundreds of clients over the years who have gone to nursing homes to provide for their care as they aged. Some of them lived full, rich, engaged lives in the nursing home until the very end. Others suffered from severe physical disabilities or dementia that prevented them from actively interacting with the world as meaningfully as they would have liked. Clients often are confused by the different types of long-term care options available to them. Today we’llread more

Spring is in the air! So what does that mean? It’s time for spring cleaning; time to get rid of all the junk that accumulated over the past year; time to deep clean the house and freshen it up. It’s also time to clean up and update that old estate plan!

Remember that estate planning is a process—not a one-time event. After creating your will or trust, you need to periodically check-in with your estate planning attorney to make sure that it’s still up to date. Some of the main reasonsread more

As you may be aware, the United States is one of the most litigious countries in the world. This means more people sue each other in court in the US than almost anywhere else. We have one lawyer for every 252 citizens in the US, as compared to only one lawyer for every 3,484 citizens in Japan. This is a big disparity. Because of this, more and more people are concerned about structuring their business and financial affairs to protect their assets from frivolous lawsuits.

Happy New Year! Here is the 2017 update on important numbers used in Estate Planning and Medicaid Planning in Hawaii.

How much money and property can a person have at death without paying estate taxes? At the end of 2012, Congress passed a law making the exemption from estate taxes $5,000,000 (adjusted for inflation) without a built in expiration date. Taking into account inflation, the actual amount exempt from estate tax for 2017 is $5,490,000. The Hawaii Estate Tax law was previouslyread more

In last month’s article, I wrote about why everyone should have a Will. I didn’t want to bore you with a bunch of technical legal information, but I tried to impress upon you how important it is by sharing stories of how badly things can go wrong when you don’t have a plan in place. If you haven’t read it yet, take a look at last month’s Hawaii Herald Publication or go online to okuralaw.com/blog to read it.

This is the season of love, giving, and to be grateful, so without rehashingread more

How many of you don’t have a Last Will and Testament drawn up? How about your adult children or grandchildren? There are many reasons why people don’t have a Will: Don’t want to think about dying; Fear of cost; Not sure whom to name as beneficiaries or personal representative. The most common reason I hear is, “I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

Although it is decidedly unpleasant to think about our own death, a Will is one of the most important documents any person will everread more

https://okuralaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/will.jpg6751200Ethan Okurahttps://okuralaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/logo-4001-blue-300x75.pngEthan Okura2016-11-07 20:00:552016-11-09 18:24:00WHY YOU NEED A WILL RIGHT NOW: PROBLEMS WITH INTESTATE DISTRIBUTION

Have you heard information about Medicaid for nursing home costs from a friend, relative, or neighbor? If so, chances are you’ve also heard one of the Medicaid myths that aren’t true. Here are 4 common misconceptions about qualifying for Medicaid to pay for your Long-term Nursing Home care costs.

Myth #1: Medicare will pay for my long-term nursing home care

Many retirees believe that they are covered for long term care because they think the Medicare Health Insurance program will coverread more

Today I’m going to talk about the two different systems for recording ownership of real property (land and buildings) in the State of Hawaii. The “Regular System” of recording land ownership comes from the traditional English Common Law and is a “race-notice” recording system which doesn’t determine ownership—it just identifies who recorded documents first. The Land Court System, established in 1903 in Hawaii, is a “Torrens Title” system of land registration where the State guaranteesread more

When a loved one passes away, probably the furthest thoughts from your mind at that time are: How do I access and preserve their digital assets of value? And, what are their passwords?

First, let’s define “digital assets.” A strict definition from Wikipedia is “anything that exists in a binary format and comes with the right to use. … Digital assets are classified as images, multimedia and textual content files.” In plain English that means computer and other electronic filesread more

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